Need to know

Is this a new bike from Orange?

Yep, that’s right, brand new and hot off the press comes the baby brother of the Brits’ favourite Orange Five, creatively named the Four.

The Orange Four will be a short travel, 27.5 inch bike that falls nicely below the Five in Orange’s range. It should have more climbing capability than a Five but Orange is very careful to make sure you don’t get the impression it’s designed for those XC whippets.

Why hasn’t Orange done this sooner?

Well, according to Orange: “rear shock technology is now so good that a non-bobbing short rear end on a single pivot frame is a reality”. This, combined with the new 12×148 boost standard that allows you to build a lighter stiffer swingarm, means that Orange now believes it can build a reliable, lightweight, short travel bike.

So, give me some details

Because everyone is loving marginal gains at the moment, Orange has made a number of small changes from its other models to distinguish the Four.

The Orange Four is optimised around 130mm front and 120mm rear travel. This puts it bang in the middle of the Five (140mm) and the 29er Segment (120/110mm). Orange claims that a shorter travel bike also has fewer frame stresses from a fork, because of this it is built using thinner, lighter aluminium.

The result is that the first prototype bikes came out of the factory at a claimed 12.4kgs (27.5 lbs) – that’s a whole kilogram lighter than the Whyte T-130 Yari that we awarded 10/10 – however this may have changed for the production models.

It’s also the first Orange bike to use 12×148 Boost rear hub spacing which Orange believes keep the chainstays short and stiff. The result of all of this is a bike that is claimed to give “smiles as big as any Orange bike”.

What’s the geometry like?

Orange was aiming for a progressive geometry, in particular with a long top tube and wheelbase for stability at speed. So how does it stack up?

It does however have a slack, 67° head angle (only 1° steeper than the Five) that should help with stability. Here’s the full geometry chart:

How many models are there?

The range will be made of three models all available in five sizes. First comes the Orange Four Pro that comes with a Fox 34 Fork, a Float DPS shock, a Shimano 1×10 drivetrain, SRAM DB5 brakes and Race Face finishing kit. This is the cheapest model in the range at £2,800.

Sitting in the middle of the range is the Orange Four RS, which stands for Rally Sport but may as well be RockShox as it comes with a Pike up front and a Monarch in the rear. This is complemented by a SRAM 1×11 groupset, SRAM brakes and a KS Lev dropper post. All of this comes in at £3,700

The crowning glory in the Orange Four range is the blingy Factory. This comes with a Fox 34 Factory Fork, a Float DPS shock with an EVOL aircan and a SRAM 1×11 drivetrain with some carbon goodies. It doesn’t come cheap though at £4,600.

There is also a frame only option for £1,600.

All the Four bikes are live now on the Orange website and will be shipped towards the end of February, for more information click here.